


Where in the World is Sammy Stevens

by Fangirl71



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 11:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18915709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirl71/pseuds/Fangirl71
Summary: One off King Falls AM story. Doesn't take place at any specific time, but definitely during Phase 2.





	Where in the World is Sammy Stevens

It felt like he had no sooner laid down and closed his eyes than Sammy felt someone nudge him in the back. But he was to cozy pajamas snuggled under his comforter to care. He closed his eyes tighter, refusing to wake up.

He felt a second nudge, slightly harder this time. He pulled the comforter over his head. Maybe Ben would take the hint and go away if he knew Sammy wasn’t interested in getting up right now.

He felt a third nudge. Well, more of a gentle shove really, and a far away voice mumble something unintelligible. He slowly opened one eye, peaking out from the old red comforter and grabbing his phone off of the nightstand the glowing light read 4:12 am.

“Ben,” he said in a gravely voice, “I swear, if the apartment isn’t on fire I’m going to kill you!”

“Who’s Ben?” A familiar, lighthearted voice said behind him.

Sammy’s eyes flew open as he sat bold upright in his bed and nearly pulled a muscle swiveling his head around. He found himself looking into the most beautiful brown eyes he’d ever seen. Eyes he thought he would never see again.

“Jack?” he whispered.

“Never mind,” Jack said over him. “Get up sleepyhead! We have to get to work. We’re already running late.” He continued as he walked out of the room.

Sammy blinked at the empty room. This was his room. His dresser. His phone that he had just taken off of the nightstand. His nightstand. His framed photo of him and Jack on the day they got engaged. His bed. It was his room. But not the room he had at Ben’s apartment. And not the room from his old apartment in King Falls. This was the bedroom he shared with Jack.

It was all too familiar, burned in Sammy’s mind so that he would never forget. There was the picture Sammy had hung to cover the hole in the wall Jack had accidently made when he tried to hang it himself. The coffee stain on the carpet from where Sammy almost tripped over the cat. The chip in the headboard where they dropped it moving Jack in.

The cat! Sammy looked around, yep, there was the familiar orange fur ball curled up at the foot of the bed lazily staring at him.

“Hurry up, Sammy!” He heard from the other room. “Don’t make me come back in there!”

“This is a dream,” Sammy said to the cat who stood up and stretched. “It has to be. That’s the only explanation. Right?” The cat crawled into Sammy’s lap purring in reply. Sammy scratched her behind the ear and she closed her eyes. Sammy could almost swear she smiled up at him. “I missed you too,” he told her.

“Are you seriously still in bed? Come on, Lazy! Get up!” Jack said coming back into the room, a steaming cup of strong smelling coffee in each hand. He stopped when he got halfway across the room giving Sammy a puzzled look. “What’s wrong? Are you OK?”

“I… I’m fine, “ Sammy stammered. He didn’t know what else to say, but he also didn’t want Jack, or whoever this was, to leave either.

“You did do a lot of tossing and turning last night,” Jack said closing the distance between them, and depositing the cups on the nightstand absentmindedly. He sat on the bed next to Sammy, taking his hand. “Are you sure you’re OK? I can tell them you’re sick, do the show alone. Or put on a ‘best of’.”

Best of? A shiver went through Sammy. There was something about the way he said it. Not knowing what else to do, Sammy squeezed Jack’s hand quickly and stood up. “No. I’m fine. Just need a minute.” He said getting up and heading in the direction of the bathroom.

“What?” Jack said flashing an all to familiar smile, “no good morning kiss?”  
It took all of Sammy’s self control not to turn around and scoop Jack up in his arms and never let go. “I have to brush my teeth,” he said as he rushed out of the room.

He leaned his hands on the sink and stared into the mirror. He just like he had yesterday and the day before. Hair that he refused to acknowledge was slightly graying at the temples. Scruffy, unkempt beard growing in because he hadn’t shaved in a few weeks. Same eyes. Same slightly cooked nose from where he broke it in high school. Yes, it was definitely him. He hadn’t been body snatched or whatever.

“OK,” he said to his reflection. “What do you remember? It was your day off. You were at Rosie’s with Ben and Emily. You were waiting for Troy’s shift to end so you could have one of Ben’s notebook meetings. Lily was there; she was on the phone with someone. Probably Katie. Then what? What happened? How did you end up here? Think Stevens! Think!” But he just couldn’t remember what had happened.

He splashed cold water on his face and nothing changed. He turned on the shower and got ready for work. Maybe if he went along with it, he could figure out what was going on around here.

* * *

It both shocked and disgusted Sammy how easy it was for him to become “Shotgun Sammy” again after all this time. But unlike before, now when he got off of work every day he felt sleazy, like he needed to take a shower with steel wool.

He also felt bad about the way he was treating Jack. Sammy still had no idea how he got here, or even where here was, and he didn’t want to get attached to anyone. It was easy at the station. He and Jack still hadn’t come out as a couple there; so being “just roommates” was easy.

It was harder when they were alone. He was just trying to make it through whatever this was and hope that no one noticed anything “off” about his behavior. But it was so hard when it was just the two of them. He needed to find a way out of this fucking nightmare!

Of course, if he was being honest, part of him didn’t want to wake up. He was with Jack again! Wasn’t this what he had been hoping for?

He managed to avoid Jack by pretending to work on show ideas. He was actually trying to figure out what was going on, so most days he shut himself in his office in front of his computer Googling things like “do strokes cause hallucinations or delusions.” God help him, he was turning into Ben!

He missed his best friend. Life just wasn’t the same without Ben, Troy, Emily, and even Lily. He needed someone to talk to but he couldn’t do that. Not here. Not now. Not like this. What he wouldn’t give for a late night breakfast of pancake puppies with Ben at Rosie’s.

He thought about calling Ben on his first day here. But everything related to King Falls had been deleted from his phone. No phone numbers. No pictures. Nothing.

They had all been replaced with things form his life over the past 4 years with Jack. Things that he didn’t remember but were still familiar. There were pictures of the two of them on hikes that Sammy knew he had never been on, but yet somehow he knew exactly where they were. Vacations, picnics, parties. Everything was familiar but just out of reach of his memories.

He had tried looking up his friends online. King Falls was there. All of his friends were there. He could see their Facebook pages. He could see Ben’s twitter account at the station. He tried reaching out to Ben at the station, but even though is twitter account was still open; Ben was no longer there. He even tried calling Troy at the sheriff’s department. Apparently Gunderson was still sheriff, Troy had never run for the office, but he was still a deputy. He wouldn’t give them any information about Ben except to say that he had been missing since shortly after Emily had disappeared and did Sammy have any information about their disappearances? He hadn’t had the courage to try calling again since then.

He still found himself looking them up online though:

 

Ben Arnold, King Falls resident, has bee missing since June 2017. He is wanted in conjunction with the disappearance of Miss Emily Potter, Head Liberian at the King Falls Public Library. Police are asking anyone with information in either disappearance to contact them at…

 

He could feel the anger and frustration rising when he felt a warm, strong hand on his shoulder. “Dinner’s ready.” Jack said.

Sammy stiffened under his touch.

“Enough!” Jack raised his voice and spun Sammy around in his chair. “What the hell is going on? You’ve been acting weird for months now. You flinch every time I touch you. You’ve been avoiding me like I don’t know what. You barely look at me. You never touch me. You don’t look me in the eye. You call out to some guy named ‘Ben’ in your sleep. And I’ve heard you mention someone named ‘Troy.’ Do I need to be worried? Or should I just pack my bags and leave?” Tears now rolling down Jack’s face.

Sammy melted at the look in Jack’s eyes. He hadn’t meant to cause him this much pain! He couldn’t help it. Even tough he knew that there was no way that this could be real, he couldn’t stand to see Jack in pain. He stood up and grabbed both of Jack’s hands pulling to his face and kissing both of his palms before wrapping his arms around him in al all too familiar hug that he had forgotten how much he missed. He held onto jack for a long time before pulling back to look him in the face. How Sammy had missed that face!

“NO!” He proclaimed. “Never! I would never do anything like that! I would never do anything to hurt you. Not now. Not ever. I love you. I’ve always loved you. You know that.” And Sammy leaned in to kiss Jack. Softly at first, then more intensely. Sammy poured out all of his love for Jack into that one kiss, everything he had been unable to share with Jack over the last four years.

Soon the two of them were nothing more than a tangle of breath, tongues, and tears. Sammy didn’t know if they were his tears, Jacks, or both. “Fuck dinner,” Sammy said, pulling Jack to the bedroom.

* * *

Sammy slept that night better than he had in months. He woke up with Jack’s arms wrapped around his waste from behind. He couldn’t believe that he was actually here. Somewhere in the night he had decided that he wasn’t going to question it anymore.

“Good morning,” Jack said, nuzzling Sammy’s neck.

“Good morning.” Sammy smiled in return, rolling over to look at Jack and do a little nuzzling of his own.

Jack giggled. He actually giggled. Of course, this caused Sammy to giggle in response, totally breaking his train of thought.

“OK,” Sammy said, “first we eat. We did skip dinner last night.” He winked when he said it.

“And went straight to dessert,” Jack replied with a lecherous grin.

Sammy feigned exasperation as he rolled out of bed and headed to the kitchen, with Jack in tow.

After a hearty breakfast they were doing the dishes with the radio playing in the background. Sammy was absently humming along.

“Someone’s in a good mood. You never sing!” Jack said.

Sammy looked up and smiled while he hummed.

“I don’t want to ruin a good thing,” Jack said hesitantly.

Sammy stopped humming but didn’t look up as he continued washing a plate.

“But are we going to talk about what’s been going on with you lately?”

“Sammy rinsed the plate and put it on the counter as he turned toward Jack, taking his hand. “Yes.” He said definitively. “Yes. I wan to tell you. I want to tell you everything.”

“I feel a ‘but’ coming on.”

“But,” Sammy hesitated for just a second before responding. He could have sworn he heard Ben’s voice, not Jacks. He really missed Ben, “dance with me first.”

“What?”

“Dance with me.”

“You don’t dance.”

“Today I do,” Sammy said pulling Jack close to him, “now shut up before I change my mind,” and beginning to sway to the music.

Jack laughed. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Have I told you yet today that I love you?”

“Yes, but tell me again.”

“I love you.” Sammy said seriously, but he didn’t stop dancing.

“I love you too.”

“Good.” Sammy smiled again, kissing Jack lightly. “Because I’ve made a decision about something.”

“What?”

“I want to tell people about us. I’m sick and tired of living this lie.”  
Jack stopped and stepped back slightly looking at Sammy. “What? Don’t mess with me Stevens.”

“I’m serious. I love you and I want everyone to know it.”

“But you know what will happen to the show if we come out.”

“I don’t care. Something else will come along”

“What the hell brought this in?” Jack rarely swore, so Sammy knew he was serious.

“It’s all connected to what I have to tell you.”

“Start talking.”

“I think you should call Lily first.”

“I’m sorry,” Jack said finally breaking contact with Sammy. “I thought you just said I should call Lily. But there is no way Sammy Stevens would have me call his arch nemesis.”

“OK,” Sammy said raising his hands in defense. “She’s not my ‘nemesis.’ But she is your sister and she loves you. And I love you. And what I have to say affects her too. She needs to hear it. I never wanted the two of you to stop talking. Epically because of me! So call her. Invite her for dinner. Tonight. If she doesn’t want to come over then fine, I’ll still tell you everything. But I need to at least try and tell her too. And she’s more likely to show up if you call her than if I do.”

* * *

Sammy was setting the table for dinner and Jack was doing his best to distract him. “Accidently” bumping into Sammy when he brought out the wine glasses. Moving the silverware when Sammy wasn’t looking. “Forgetting” why he was sent into the kitchen for the third time. It was an old game that he and Sammy used to play. It was jack’s way of flirting. Sammy pretended to be annoyed.

As Jack passed one more time Sammy reached back grabbing his hand and pulling him into an embrace. “If I burn dinner an Lily complains because you distracted me you’re going to pay for it tonight!”

“Oh really?” Jacks eyebrows went up. “How?”

“Like this.” Sammy kissed Jack, long and hard.

Jack ran his hands up Sammy’s back and tangled his hands in Sammy’s hair, which he had left down tonight.

Suddenly they heard a woman clearing her throat. “Should I come back later?”

“Lily!” Jack broke away from Sammy and ran to hug Lily, picking her up and twirling her around. “I haven’t seen you in so long! I’ve missed you!”

“I missed you too, “ she said when he put her down. She looked toward the kitchen, “Stevens.” She said flatly.

“Lily. Nice to see you,” Sammy replied cautiously, handing her a glass of wine.

She took a sip and asked “So what’s this big announcement that Jack was so eager to tell me?”

Sammy grabbed Jacks hand and nodded. “We’re getting married!” Jack said excitedly!

She wanted to be stern and disapproving, but she loved her brother and his excitement was infectious! “That’s amazing! I am so happy for you!” She hugged Jack tight. She also hugged Sammy! “If you hurt him, I’ll kill you!”

“Fair enough.” Sammy replied hugging Lily back. “Now let’s eat before dinner gets cold.”

The three of them fell easily into conversation, as if the old team had never broken up in the first place. Laughing and joking.

Sammy opened up about King Falls and what he had been going through for the past four years. He told them how Jack had disappeared. He told them about Ben and Troy and Emily. UFO’s. Apparitions. Even Werewolves. Some of the stories made them laugh, some even made them cry. By dessert he even had them singing Archie’s theme song and mimicking jazz hands. Before they knew it, it was after midnight.

The only thing he couldn’t bring himself to tell them was how he tried to join Jack in the void. Or how he would have died if it hadn’t not been for Ben.

“Well, that is one hell of a story, Stevens.” Lily said.

“I know. And if I were you, I wouldn’t believe me either. But I swear I’m telling the truth.”

“But werewolves? Ghosts…”

“Apparitions.” Sammy interrupted Lily.

“OK… Apparitions…”

“I’m just asking you to keep an open mind.”

“OK. Open mind. But, I have to ask, have you seen anyone about this? I mean, an alternate world? Are you sure it’s not some kind of psychosis?”

“Wow,” Jack said. “Look at the time! We need to get this mess cleaned up.”

“Leave it.” Sammy said. “We’ll clean up later. For now, I need to go lay down. I’m exhausted. Lily, thank you so much for coming and being open to” he gestured to the room, “all of this. You and Jack hang out and catch up some more. Lily, the spare room is made up if you want to crash here. I love you, Jack.”

“Sammy?” Jack said, “Are you OK?”

“Yeah… Yeah. I’m good. Just too much wine I think. I’m getting a migraine.” Sammy didn’t want to say that he’d been seeing flashes of light for the past half an hour or so. He reached across the sofa and squeezed Lily’s hand. He kissed Jack on the forehead. And he got up to go to bed.

As he left the room he could still hear them talking.

“I really am happy for you, Jack. I know how much you love Sammy, and I can tell he loves you too. And under any other circumstances, I’d say he was good for you. But I’m worried about him.”

“He’s fine. He’s just been under a lot of stress lately.”

“Yeah, but that story…”

“I know, but why would he lie.”

“OK,” Lily was trying to be reasonable. “Let’s say the story is true. What does that mean? That you’re not supposed to be here? You in some void? Maybe dead?” I don’t know if I can live with that.

“I know. And believe me, I don’t want to end up in some void either. But if, IF, that happens, I know Sammy will find me. He was working on trying to find me, and I have every faith that he will.”

“Oh my God, you actually believe him.”

“I don’t know if I do or not. Not completely. But I love him and I have faith in him.”

“OK. OK. I don’t want to argue about it. If you believe him, then I’ll keep an open mind. For now. But please see if you can get him to go to a doctor.”

“OK. I’ll talk to him in the morning.”

“I’ll take it.”

“I’m going to go check on Sammy. He wasn’t looking too well when he got up.”

Meanwhile, Sammy was standing in the bedroom gripping the side of the dresser trying to keep his balance.

“Sammy!” Jack rushed into the room.

“Jack?” Sammy swayed back an forth. “Jack, help!” The whole room turned completely white and metallic looking and Sammy into Jack’s arms.

Right before the darkness over took him, Sammy heard Jack call for Lily’s help.

* * *

“Sammy! Sammy!”

Sammy knew someone was calling him. And he knew the voice. He just couldn’t place it.

“Emily, call Troy!”

Ben. It was Ben’s voice. What was Ben doing in his and Jack’s bedroom?

“God Damnit, Sammy! Please wake up!” Ben shook Sammy, trying to wake him up.

“Troy is on his way!” Emily said.

“Emily, what am I going to di without Sammy? He can’t be gone! He just can’t.”

Sammy tried to open his eyes, tried to talk, tried to move, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything. His brain was screaming for Ben to hear him, screaming for Jack to hear him! Why couldn’t he move? Why couldn’t anyone hear him?

* * *

When Sammy finally woke up he was in a hospital. Jack was there, sleeping in a chair next to his bed, holding onto his hand. Lily was there too.

“Hey there, Shotgun, “ Lily whispered. “Welcome back.”

“Hi.” Sammy said in a raspy voice.

Lily got up to wake Jack.

“No!” Sammy said. “Let him sleep. What happened? How did I get here?”

“I don’t know.” Lily answered. “You went to bed because you had a headache. Then when Jack went to go check on you and you collapsed.”

“Sammy?” Their voices must have woken Jack up. “Sammy are you OK? You scared me to death!”

“I’m OK. I’m so sorry. I guess I was just a little drunk.”

“No, Sammy, you weren’t. You only had two glasses of wine.”

“You’re young man is right, Mr. Stevens.” The doctor came in, interrupting the conversation. “We did some blood work when they brought you in. You were definitely not drunk. “

“Then what’s wrong with him?” Jack asked.

“Well, we still have a few more tests to do, but you appear to be in excellent health Mr. Stevens. “

* * *

Jack and Sammy were on the couch watching TV. Jack was curled under Sammy’s arm. He had barely left Sammy’s side since they came home from the hospital. Sammy absently traced his fingers up and down Jack’s arm.

“Are you OK?” Jack asked for what had to be the hundredth time today. “Do you need me to get you anything?”

“Hum?” Sammy wasn’t really listening. He was thinking about what he heard when he was unconscious. “What? I’m sorry. Spaced out there for a minute there.”  
Jack sat up and looked at Sammy. “I asked if you were OK.”

“Honey, I’m fine. I promise. The doctor said it was just stress and I should take it easy. There’s nothing wrong with me “

“But you said you heard Ben and his girlfriend…”

“Emily.” Sammy filled in.

“Right. Emily. You heard them talking. That’s not nothing.”

“Ben!”

Jack sat, staring at Sammy, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry! Oh God! I am so sorry!!! I’m just tired and frustrated. It’s no excuse, but I didn’t mean it! Oh, God, Jack…”

Jack held up his hand to stop Sammy from apologizing. “I’m not jealous. Not really. Not like that. I’m just, scared. I’m scared I’m going to loose you to this other world, or whatever it is.”

“Jack, I love you. Only you! I never want to lave you. I wish I could forget all about King Falls and the people there. I would give them up in a second if it would mean that I would stop hurting you. I love you so much. I tried to fucking kill myself to be with you when I was there. Do you understand? I would rather die than… than…” Sammy felt himself slipping away, “live… without…” and the room suddenly went totally white.

* * *

Sammy tried to move but his arms and legs felt tied down. He turned his head as far as he could, but he couldn’t see anything.

He could hear voices, but he couldn’t tell what they were saying or where they were coming from. He tried to call out, but no sound came out of his mouth.

* * *

When his eyes fluttered open he was laying on the floor and a panicked looking Jack was staring down at him.

“Sammy! Babe! Are you OK?” Jack leaned across Sammy to hug him.

“Yeah,” Sammy croaked. “Just got a little dizzy. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Promise.” And he pulled jack down onto his chest in a reassuring hug.

“Do you want to get up?”

“Not yet. Just lay here with me for a minute.”

They laid like that until both of their breathing became even and steady.

“Sammy?” got up on his elbows so he could look at Sammy.

“I’m sorry.” Sammy reached up to touch Jack’s face.

“For what?”

“Scaring you.”

“Did you mean what you said?”

“What do you mean?”

“About trying to… Wanting to…”

“Die.” Sammy finished for him.

“Yes. Did you mean it?”

Sammy shoved himself to his feet, pulling Jack along. When they were both comfortably settled on the couch again Sammy looked at Jack and chose his words carefully. He didn’t want to scare Jack anymore than he already had, and he didn’t want to make him angry either.

“The thing you have to understand is that you were gone. I had no idea where at first. Your bags were packed and sitting by the door. I thought you left. I thought I had dome something to drive you away…”

“You could never!!” Jack interrupted.

Sammy squeezed Jack’s hand. “Let me finish. I thought I had driven a wedge between you and Lily. I didn’t know at the time the two of you were still talking. I thought that by wanting to be ‘Shotgun Sammy’ I had made you hate me. And I hated myself. Then I found your notebook and read about King Falls.

“So I contacted the owner of the local radio station begging for a job, packed my stuff, and moved. I don’t know exactly what I thought I would happen when I got there. I do know that I thought I’d find you. And when I couldn’t I don’t know how to describe it other than I got dark. So dark. But Ben needed me to help bring him out of his shell, then to find Emily. And it was a distraction. It kept me going. It helped.

“I was happy. Well, happy-ish anyway. For a little while anyway. But every day I woke up and my first thought was of you. I dreamed about you every night.

“Then Debby called. And she told us about the Void and ten we found out you were there. I became obsessed. I had to find the Devil’s Doorstep because I knew, KNEW, you would be there. And if you were there, then I had to be there too. By the time I found it and tried to enter the Void, it wasn’t about dying anymore. It was about not being able to exist without you. And if you were there and I couldn’t get you out then I was going to join you. Because I’d be happier in hell with you than here without you.

“So yes, I meant it. I tried over and over again to die. Because I couldn’t, can’t, live without you.”

“Oh, Sammy!” Jack said through his tears and flung himself into Sammy’s arms. “And people call me the sensitive one,” he laughed trying to lighten the mood. “Please, please, please promise me you will never try that again! If you ever feel like that you will find help. Me. Lily. A doctor. I don’t care who! Just don’t let yourself go like that again! Promise me!”

“Don’t worry,” Sammy hugged him back. “I swear I will never let myself go to that place again. I promise.” Sammy had never meant anything more in his whole life.

“And I don’t want you to forget King Falls or the people there. They were, are, your friends. You love them. And it sounds like they love you too.”

“OK. But you have to promise me something in return.”

“Anything,” Jack replied.

“Never leave me!”

Jack held Sammy’s face in his hands, and looked at him for a long time. “I could never leave you. Never. I promise.” And he kissed Sammy long and hard before adding. “Besides, how could anyone willingly walk away from this face?”

And with that they were laughing and kissing and feeling better than they had in a long time.

“Hey!” Sammy said between kisses, “What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Nothing that I know of. Why?”

“Do you want to get married?”

Jack kissed him again, pushing him back on the couch. “What do you think?” he asked unbuttoning Sammy’s shirt before lying on top of him and kissing him again.

* * *

“Daaaaaaaamn!” Lily said when Sammy walked out of the men’s room at the courthouse, She hadn’t seen him in a suit that often. “If I were into men I’d try and steal you away from Jack.”

“Good luck,” Jack said.

“Yeah, you’re not exactly my type either, Lily. Although I do have to say, nice dress.” Sammy joked.

“Oh yeah, she teased back. Do you want to borrow it sometime?”

“Shut up and go check on Jack,” Sammy said making sure he had all of the paperwork he needed for the wedding.

As soon as she was out of sight Sammy took a deep breath and sat down on the nearest bench leaning over putting his head in his hands. It’s just nerves, he thought. It’s normal to be nerves on your wedding day, even if you have been together for years.

He started seeing spots so he pressed his palms into his eyes as hard as he could. “No! No! No! Nononononono! This isn’t happening! This can’t be happening! Not today! Please, God! Not today!” he said to himself.

“Sammy?” Jack sounded like he was underwater.

Sammy looked up to see Jack and Lily rushing toward him.

“Jack!” Sammy tried to stand up but collapsed to the floor.

* * *

When Sammy woke up he was in the hospital again. Lily was sitting on the food of his bed trying to look like she wasn’t crying.

“I didn’t know you cared,” Sammy said.

“Oh thank God!” she leaped at Sammy throwing her arms around him in a too tight bear hug.

He hugged her back. “Where’s Jack?”

“What?” She looked confused.

“Jack. We were just at the courthouse. I was… I was, making sure all of our paperwork was in order. You went to check on him.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We were getting married today.”

“Sammy,” she sounded like she was talking to a small child or a wounded animal, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ben! Sammy’s awake!” He heard Emily’s voice.

“Where am I? What’s going on? How did I get here?”

Ben rushed into the room and practically knocked Lily on the floor pushing her out of the way and hugging Sammy. Yep, that was Ben all right. No one else that tiny could hug that tight. And it didn’t help that Emily piled on joining in the dog pile. “Thank God you’re OK. We were so worried.”

“I’ll go get Sheriff Do Good,” Lily said leaving to get Troy who was the only one calm enough to fill out Sammy’s admission paperwork.

“OK! OK!” Sammy said. “I can’t breath guys.” He said hugging Ben and Emily back.

Reluctantly they broke the hug. “I’m just… We’re just… You had us so scared, Sammy.”

“What happened, Ben?”

“I don’t know. We were all hanging out at Rosie’s. You stood up to go to the bathroom, and then you collapsed.”

“When was that? How long have I been here?”

“Maybe 30 minutes from the time you passed out, “ Emily said.

“But that’s impossible,” Sammy said. I wasn’t here. I was in California. I was with Jack, he started to cry.

“What do you mean?” Ben asked.

“I… I… I can’t.” Sammy said sniffing.

“You were dreaming, Sammy.” Lily said. How long had she been standing there?

“No. No it was absolutely not a dream.” Sammy insisted angrily.

“Sammy, tell us what happened,” Emily said.

Here we go again, Sammy thought with a sigh, “OK, I’ll tell you. But first,” he looked at Ben, “get me a notebook.”


End file.
